The holiday season is in full swing on Steam, as the PC storefront's Christmas sale is now several days in. Christmas itself is over, one of the biggest sales days of the year, and New Year's Day is quickly approaching. To celebrate the year's upcoming conclusion, Valve's followed through with its tradition of releasing a list of Steam's most successful games from the year. 2020 was full of surprising success stories on PC, though there are plenty of Steam's old favorites at the top of the six different lists, too.
There are six lists for Steam users to peruse this year. They include Steam's Top Sellers, New Releases, Most Played, Early Access Grads, Best of VR, and Controller Games. As ever, Valve doesn't release specific numbers for its "Best of 2020" games lists. Instead, it breaks down games in tiers, with Platinum games being the year's most successful, followed by Gold, Silver, and Bronze categories. Players will have to guess to figure out exactly how the lists break down game by game.
The Top Sellers list, which ranges Steam's best-performing games by gross revenue, is perhaps the most meaningful of the lists. Unsurprisingly, it's populated by many games not released in 2020, but which are still extremely successful. Of the 12 games in the Platinum tier, only Cyberpunk 2077, Doom Eternal, and Fall Guys are 2020 releases. The rest of the list is made up of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Destiny 2, Monster Hunter World, Dota 2, Among Us, Rainbow Six Siege, Grand Theft Auto 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
Next to the top-revenue list, perhaps the most interesting list is Steam's Most Played. This is a list of games with the highest concurrent player count in 2020. Most of the games are similar between the two lists, but there are a handful of surprises. Differing games include Terraria, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord, and perhaps the biggest surprise, Life is Strange 2.
For PC gamers looking for games they may have missed in 2020, the Early Access Grads list is perfect. It's full of awesome games that received little marketing or buzz when they first came to Steam, and then may have never gotten a big push after when they went from Early Access to full launch. Top games include big releases like Hades and Torchlight 3, as well as lesser-known games like Wolcen, Noita, Deep Rock Galactic, and Squad.
The Best of VR and Controller Games list are both excellent as well, pointing PC gamers with more specific needs toward games they may have missed in 2020. In fact, all of the lists do that in meaningful ways. Considering the Steam holiday sale is ongoing, there's no better time to try out some of the best games of 2020 before a new wave of great games arrives on Steam in 2021.